The plot unfolds when Skeeter tells bedtime
stories to his nieces & nephew at the home
of his sister, 'Wendy' (Courteney Cox),
and is later astounded to find out that the
stories seem to be coming true in the real world.

His
sister's house can be found at 800 Adelaine Ave,
in South Pasadena, CA.

That's on the east side of
the street, midway between Magnolia St. and Mission St,
two blocks south of the Pasadena (110) Freeway.

[ Warning: this
is a private home. Do not trespass on their property, knock
on their door,
or do anything else that might disturb the residents! ]

The scene seen most often in the commercials
for this movie has Skeeter caught in a rain of colorful
gumballs, something straight out of those bedtime stories. What actually
happens is that a truck full
of gumballs overturns on an overpass above Skeeter, sending down a shower
of gumballs.

This Gumball
Scene was shot on Seaside Way,
in Long Beach, CA.
The overpass (where the truck spills the gumballs) is the Queensway
Branch -
which is the south end of Magnolia Avenue (where it becomes the Queensway
Bridge).
The camera is looking east, and the garage you see behind him is for One
Oceangate Plaza.

( Fans
of the TV show "Dexter"
should know that the Oceangate office plaza
is the same plaza where Agent Lundy bumps into the Trinity Killer.

It's also where they shot a 'Shanghai' scene of a "Transformers" attack. )

(Here's a Google StreetView
panorama taken from the overpass,
looking west down on Seaside Way.)

In one of his original bedtime
stories, we see Skeeter as a medieval squire at a castle.

That castle
is actually the Castello di Amorosa Winery,which, unlike the other locations,
is a long way from Los Angeles, at 4045 N. Saint Helena Highway,
Calistoga, CA.

It's up in northern California
wine country, about 60 miles north of San Francisco and east of
Sacramento, about a quarter mile south of the Highway (at the end of the
winery's road).

(Want to visit? The winery
has its own website at castellodiamorosa.com,
with directions. But be aware that the winery charges an admission fee.)

'Skeeter' begins to believe
that his stories are actually coming true. So, following a Wild West
story
about him getting a free Ferrari (horse), he has high hopes of getting
a free Ferrari (car) in real life.
In the screenshot above, we see him looking into the window of a
Ferrari dealership.

That Ferrari store
is real. It's Ferrari of Beverly Hills,
and
you can find it at 9372 Wilshire Blvd,
Beverly Hills, CA.

That same bedtime story has
him rescuing a damsel in distress. And later, that part does come
true,
when Skeeter finds the boss's daughter, 'Violet' (Teresa
Palmer), in trouble - surrounded by
aggressive paparazzi outside of a restaurant - and he rescues her.

That Paparazzi
ambush scene was filmed outside the EuroChow
restaurant, at1099 Westwood Blvd, in Westwood Village,
just south of the UCLA campus.

The scene plays out along the
west side of that restaurant, on the 1700 block of Broxton
Ave.

Yet another bedtime story has
him walking along the beach with the "fairest maiden", and
later ducking into a cave to avoid a sudden rainstorm. And sure enough,
he winds up on
the beach (near a red Hot Dog on a Stick stand) with 'Jill' (Keri
Russell), the kids' babysitter.

That hot
dog stand at the beach is actually the original Hot
Dog on a Stick (built in 1946)
in an area known as Muscle Beach, at 1633 Ocean Front Walk,in Santa Monica, CA.

Muscle Beach (and the hot dog
stand) is just south of the Santa Monica Pier.
Not surprisingly, the "cave" turns out to be under that very
pier.

In the screencap below, we
can see a Ferris Wheel behind Skeeter & Jill as they walk along
thebeach. That Ferris
Wheel is at Pacific Park, atop The Santa Monica Pier,
at the west end of Colorado Ave. The
camera is looking northwest.

Skeeter attends a tropical-themed
birthday party at the mansion of his boss, Mr. Nottingham,
but is worried, because the last bedtime story involved him being set on
fire - and he fears
that he will actually be incinerated at the party. So he is distracted
dodging tiki torches
& fire eaters, gets stung by a bee, and winds up being fired by his
boss instead.

That mansion
is perched on a hilltop, on a private road, at 2300 White Stallion Road,
in Thousand Oaks, CA
- a few miles west of the Los Angeles/Ventura County line.

[ Warning: this
is a private home. Do not trespass on their property, knock
on their door,
or do anything else that might disturb the residents! ]

When his sister, Wendy, learns
that her school (where she is the principal, and which her kids attend)
is going to be demolished to make way for the new hotel, she stages a protest
at the school.

That protest scene was shot
outside the Memorial Branch Library,at 4625 W. Olympic Boulevard,
inLos Angeles. That's in Los Angeles
High Memorial Park, across the street from Los Angeles High School,
It's a few blocks south of Hancock Park, about two miles southeast of Farmers
Market & The Grove.

Wendy finally manages to corner
Mr. Nottingham, and tries to convince him to build
his new hotel somewhere else, so they can save the school.

The official-looking building
where she talks to Mr. Nottingham
is the west side ofPasadena City Hall, at 100 N. Garfield Ave,
in Pasadena, CA,
at the east end of Holly Street, where Holly ends at Garfield Ave.